It’s coming down to the end of the year, which means websites are rolling out my favorite things: best of the year lists! I thought I’d join in the holiday spirit and share what songs topped my list for 2010. I even wrote commentary for my top five picks. Take the poll at the end, ok?

Is it possible for music to be lush yet sparse at the same time? Because it seems like Fences has pulled it off for his debut full-length. “My Girl the Horse” utilizes this method with simple piano, guitar and bass over a loop-esque drum track while Chris “Fences” Mansfield sings the same three haunting lines. Sara Quin’s wispy voice in the second half of the song adds a whole new dynamic, showing how every layer and individual note is important.

Abandoning her acoustic instrumental roots, Kaki King went all-out indie pop/rock for “Spit It Back In My Mouth” on her latest album, Junior. For someone who isn’t comfortable singing, King’s voice sounds almost ethereal with the addition of the EVI (electronic valve instrument) and delay pedaled guitar. Speaking of guitar, the lead riff King plays just might be the best of the year.

This absolute pop-perfection sounds like a hit single from a seasoned, industry-groomed female superstar (insert name here.) But make no mistake… this is a track from Lelia Broussard’s indepenently-made album, Masquerade. While the whole song is amazing, it contains in particular my favorite chorus in recent memory. This album definitely needs to/will hit the college radio circuit soon.

This is the ultimate sing/whistle-along duet of the year. Even if you’ve never heard this song before, you’d agree by the time it was halfway through. It blends indie with folk and country twang to create a truly unique song. Maybe cute is the word… or endearing. Oh, and I have to add how absolutely adorable the lyrics are. For real, though.

Possibly the most ambitious song Broken Social Scene has ever released (even more-so than “7/4 Shoreline,”) synthesizers pulse with violin and heavy bass sounds above them to evoke an airy and beautiful sound. It takes everything good about modern electronic music and combines it with everything good about indie rock. With the help of newcomer Lisa Lobsinger’s voice, Broken Social Scene has created an absolute masterpiece. There isn’t really any other to describe this song than breathtaking, and it certainly deserves to be the top song of 2010.

 

Special Posthumous Award: Cecilia/Amanda – Elliott Smith

This song may date back to 1997, but label Kill Rock Stars just released it this year. After three posthumous records, how could Smith have written any more songs we haven’t heard? “Amanda Cecilia” existed already, but this is a much different (better) version and one of the most surprising musical highlights this year.

 

So… that’s it. Did I miss your favorite song? I probably did… sorry! Let out your feelings in this poll. Out of my choices, which is your favorite of the year?

Take Our Poll

Ray Montagne- Beg Steal Or Borrow
Cee Lo Green- Forget You*
Miranda Lambert- House That Built Me
Eminem Feat. Rihanna- Love The Way You Lie
Lady Antebellum- Need You Now

• Anything but Lady Antebellum. Seriously. That song is the worst song ever and I wish it didn’t exist. If it wins song of the year, I’ll be forced to move to Canada where at least they have the Polaris Prize and no Lady Antebellum. #ohcanada

Best New Artist:

Justin Bieber
Drake
Florence & The Machine*
Mumford & Suns
Esperanza Spalding

• Everyone is pretty much in love with the Biebs. Girls around the country are going to flip out if he loses, and Academy members don’t want to piss off their daughters. That said, Florence + The Machine is far more deserving based on last year’s flawless debut, Lungs. It stands the best chance against Bieber.

Album Of The Year:

Arcade Fire- The Suburbs*
Eminem- Recovery
Lady Antebellum- Need You Now
Lady GaGa- The Fame Monster
Katy Perry- Teenage Dream

• NOT Lady Antebellum. Arcade Fire would be great, but alternative rock isn’t even in the Grammy dictionary. And Katy Perry??? That has to be a joke. Just… no. Gaga was snubbed last year, so it’s possible that she’ll win this time around. However, I have the feeling this is Em’s year to actually win. Recovery is the best he’s done in a long time.

Record of The Year:

The impossible happened. No, MTV didn’t cancel Teen Mom. In case you haven’t heard, Pitchfork gave its first 10.0 review in nearly a decade.

Who received the honor? Sufjan Stevens? Arcade Fire? Massive Attack? No, no… definitely no.

It was Kanye West. The same Kanye who gave us the aut0tuned mess that was 808s and Heartbreaks two years ago, the same Kanye who hid out in Hawaii after he hilariously humiliated Taylor Swift and himself last year, and as @melimoz can attest, the same Kanye who writes crazy Twitter rants that take up the entire feed. Oh yeah, and the same Kanye who’s on the top of George W’s hate list… even above Al Qaeda (for real.) I could go on.

To put it lightly, most casual fans gave up on Kanye West. I mean, who wouldn’t? So when he released his first single “Power” in July for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, I didn’t pay attention. I listened, thought it was ok and moved on.

A few weeks later, I heard he collaborated with indie favorite Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver.) When I heard the results (“Monster” and “Lost in the World,”) I forgot all about the T-Swift situation and focused on the fact that I was listening to two of the best tracks of the year. Nicki Minaj joined Kanye, Vernon and Mr. Beyonce’s husband Jay-Z in “Monster” to provide her best collab effort so far. “Lost in the World” brilliantly sampled Gil Scott-Heron‘s “Comment #1″ and Bon Iver’s “The Woods” as I wrote a couple months ago.

“Monster”

“Lost in the World”

Fast-forward to last month when Kanye released his 34-minute music video/opus for “Runaway” aka Bird Girl Goes to Thanksgiving. The video included most of his new songs while providing what can probably be considered crazy, strange, WTFable, metaphorical imagery.

I liked the rest of the songs, but felt “Lost in the World” and Monster were definitely the strongest. On my imaginary album review site, I gave My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy an 8/10.

When the album officially released last week, I decided to read some reviews. To my surprise, critics on every site praised Kanye, and the lowest score I found was a 4/5. That’s when I saw it. Pitchfork’s 10.0.

Keep in mind that Pitchfork is notorious for giving fickle/ridiculous reviews to good records. Fiona Apple’s Extraordinary Machine received a 6.2, Cold War Kids’ Robbers and Cowards got a mere 5.0, and Tegan and Sara’s So Jealous (one of Rolling Stone’s top albums of the year) got a 3.4.

The best score I could remember Pitchfork ever giving (not including reissues) was a 9.7 for Arcade Fire’s Funeral in 2004. Seeing as Funeral was a flawless masterpiece, I didn’t think a 10.0 was possible (though someone recently told me that Wilco’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot got a 10.0 in 2002.) After some research, I found that 12 albums have gotten 10.0s.

Albums that received 10.0s by Pitchfork (not including reissues) via Salad Days Music

1. Radiohead – Kid A
2. Radiohead – OK Computer
3. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – I See A Darkness
4. The Flaming Lips – The Soft Bulletin
5. …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – Source Tags and Codes
6. 12 Rods – gay? (EP)
7. Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The “Royal Albert Hall” Concert 1
8. Robert Pollard – Relaxation of the Asshole
9. Amon Tobin – Bricolage
10. Walt Mink – El Producto
11. Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

and…. Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.

Something doesn’t add up. Most people have no idea who those artists are, other than Radiohead, The Flaming Lips and Bob Dylan. Why would Pitchfork tarnish its reputation of hating anything anyone’s heard of before? Kanye is just the kind of guy Pitchfork would tear up and give a 0.0 to just because they can. I thought Pitchfork might explain themselves in the review, but author Ryan Dombal doesn’t give too many details.

One can only guess what kind of statement Pitchfork is trying to make with this rare 10.0, but I don’t think it’s just about the quality of the album. As I said, it deserves a 8. Maybe an 8.3 and a spot in the “Best New Music” category.

-mmbizz

 

First, let me start off by telling you that you should definitely get this album. If you don’t already have it, you’re not indie or hipster enough and YOU LOSE. Game over.

It was completely natural for me to pick a Deerhunter song for this category. Bradford Cox’s effects-laden vocals soar over distant drums, high-register guitars and ambient electronic infusions. These elements together make the perfect soundtrack to a stream-of-consciousness daydream.

Helicopter, the first single off September’s Halcyon Digest ups the ambiance and turns down the tempo, making the daydream more appropriate for full-on nighttime sleep.

Warning: listen to the lyrics too closely and your dreams might not be too happy. They evoke more of a nightmare scenario.

Take my hand and pray with me
My final days in company
The devil now has come for me
And helicopters circling the scene

And I pray for us
Would you pray for us
Nobody loves you the best
We know he loves you the best

For a more uplifting song to help you sleep, I’d suggest most of Keep It Together (album) by Guster.

Try playing Helicopter right now…. Are you just waking up? Is reading the previous sentence the last thing you remember doing? I thought so. Comment below if you want. Whatever. *Yawn.*

-mmbizz

I’m not a very dancey person. I formed my signature move, “the sneeze jump” in 7th grade. Other than that, dancing is beyond me.

However, once I hear the telling bass line in the beginning of this song, I drop whatever I’m doing and dance. It’s almost as if David Byrne has possessed me.

The dancing starts off tame when Byrne does his spoken-word verse. But once he sings, “letting the days go by…” my body becomes wildly uncontrollable. Just thinking about it makes me want to dance, which makes me very glad I wasn’t around in the ’80s. That could have been a very embarrassing, dancey decade for me.

Lately, I’ve had a hard time waking up for my MWF editing class. All I have to do is play this song and within 45 seconds, I’m dancing and singing my way out my bedroom door. For realz. It’s magical.

I’m honestly not sure why it makes me want to dance. Maybe just because it’s a fun song. The catchy repeating chorus probably has something to do with it too. Idk. Does “Once in a Lifetime” make other people want to dance, or is it just me? I’m curious.

-mmbizz

“You may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
You may find yourself in another part of the world
You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
You may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
You may ask yourself: well… how did I get here?

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground

You may ask yourself
How do I work this?
You may ask yourself
Where is that large automobile?
You may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful house!
You may tell yourself
This is not my beautiful wife!

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground

Same as it ever was… Same as it ever was… x4

Water dissolving… and water removing
There is water… at the bottom of the ocean
Under the water
Carry the water
Remove the water from the bottom of the ocean

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground

Into the blue again/into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones/there is water underground
Letting the days go by/into the silent water
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground

You may ask yourself
What is that beautiful house?
You may ask yourself
Where does that highway lead to?
You may ask yourself
Am I right?… Am I wrong?
You may say to yourself
My God!… what have I done?

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money’s gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground

Into the blue again/into the silent water
Under the rocks and stones/there is water underground
Letting the days go by/into the silent water
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground

Same as it ever was… Same as it ever was… x4

Time isn’t holding us
Time isn’t after us
Time isn’t holding us
Time isn’t holding us x2

Letting the days go by…
Letting the days go by…
Letting the days go by…
Once in a lifetime…”

If you are familiar with this song, you can probably understand why people might get weirded out by the lyrics and me singing them loudly.

Wikipedia (the greatest/most reliable source of all time) says, “This song has had its fair share of controversy as to the meaning of the song. The top theories of what the song means seem to be that it is about a vampire, the Zodiac Killer, an odd sexual encounter, or a man who experiences a botched attempt at seducing a woman.”

Even that doesn’t stop me from singing “Possum Kingdom” in my car, the shower, my head, in bed, etc. You see, it’s really fun to sing along and rock out to. The repeating lyrics makes it easy enough for everyone to join in!

So whatevs to the people who stare when I sing “do you wanna die?” over and over.

Oh… you might be wondering what the lyrics actually are. Memorize them in case we cross paths and want to have a spontaneous acapella session. Glee is popular, so it could totally happen.

“Make up your mind
Decide to walk with me
Around the lake tonight
By my side
I’m not gonna lie
I’ll not be a gentleman
Behind the boathouse
I’ll show you my dark secret

I’m not gonna lie
I want you for mine
My blushing bride
My lover, be my lover, yeah…

Don’t be afraid
I didn’t mean to scare you
So help me, Jesus

I can promise you
You’ll stay as beautiful
With dark hair
And soft skin…forever
Forever

Make up your mind
And I’ll promise you
I will treat you well
My sweet angel
So help me, Jesus

Give it up to me
Do you wanna be
My angel?
So help me!

Be my angel

Do you wanna die? (x a lot)

I promise you
I will treat you well
My sweet angel
So help me, Jesus”

-mmmmmmmbbbbbiiiizzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

A couple months ago, Pitchfork reported that Kanye West had flown Justin Vernon (aka Bon Iver) to Hawaii to collaborate on some new songs. Like most of the world, I was like “…?” Is this the same Bon Iver who writes songs like “Skinny Love” alone in a secluded cabin during a snow storm?

When “Lost in the World” leaked this week, it became clear that it indeed is the same Bon Iver. The track opens with a sample from his Imogen Heap-esque song “The Woods” (off his Blood Bank EP.) A minute into the song, Vernon’s serene voice is interrupted by a heavy drum beat (which I absolutely love.)

The two elements go together amazingly well to make for one of Kanye’s best tracks. Some more good news? Vernon evidently worked on more than 10 songs with Kanye. Yesss.

Oh, and near the end of the song, Kanye samples Gil Scott-Heron’s “Comment #1.”

“Us living as we do upside down. And the new word to have is revolution. People don’t even want to hear the preacher spill or spiel because God’s whole card has been thoroughly piqued. And America is now blood and tears instead of milk and honey. The youngsters who were programmed to continue fucking up woke up one night digging Paul Revere and Nat Turner as the good guys. America stripped for bed and we had not all yet closed our eyes. The signs of Truth were tattooed across our open ended vagina. We learned to our amazement untold tale of scandal. Two long centuries buried in the musty vault, hosed down daily with a gagging perfume. America was a bastard the illegitimate daughter of the mother country whose legs were then spread around the world and a rapist known as freedom, free doom. Democracy, liberty, and justice were revolutionary code names that preceded the bubbling bubbling bubbling bubbling bubbling in the mother country’s crotch
What does Webster say about soul?
All I want is a good home and a wife
and a children and some food to feed them every night.

After all is said and done build a new route to China if they’ll have you.

Who will survive in America?”

-mmbizz

Here’s a math problem:

I rode the bus to school for 11 years. Depending on where I lived, the ride lasted anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and 15 minutes. (Keep in mind that I rode the bus to school AND back.) For an estimated combined four of those 11 years, I listened to Phantom Planet. How much did I love Phantom Planet?

Answer: ∞

I chose the song “Always On My Mind” for no particular reason. Every Phantom Planet song reminds me of my time spent on the bus at 7 a.m. wishing I was anywhere else. As soon as I got their album The Guest, it became a fixture in my state-of-the-art CD player. Their next release then got uploaded to my 256 MB mp3 player, and their latest on my 30 gb iPod (technology advancing before my eyes!) I turned the volume all the way up to drown the sound of hyperactive children who sometimes got motion sickness.

I was obsessed with Phantom Planet, and I would’ve given almost anything to attend one of their shows. Sadly, they broke up in 2008 before I got a chance to see them. Major bummer.

I’m not quite as obsessed now, but I do often play my “Best of Phantom Planet” playlist on my even more advanced 160 gb iPod.

-mmbizz